UK-based startup Optalysys is moving ahead to deliver exascale levels of processing power on a standard-sized desktop computer within the next few years, reported HPCwire earlier this week. The company itself announced on August 1 that it is "only months away from launching a prototype optical processor with the potential to deliver exascale levels of processing power on a standard-sized desktop computer." The company will demo its prototype, which meets NASA Technology Readiness Level 4, in January next year. Though the January date represents only a proof-of-concept stage, the processor is expected to run at over 340 gigaFLOPS , which will enable it to analyze large data sets, and produce complex model simulations in a laboratory environment. Engadget commented that those numbers were not bad for a proof of concept. HPCwire pointed at the potential significance of this work in its article's headline, "IsThis the Exascale Breakthrough We've Been Waiting For?" Optalysys' technology uses light for compute-intensive mathematical functions at speeds that exceed what can be achieved with electronics, at a fraction of the cost and power consumption.